March 10: Cuda Beast ready for 2013 season

Paul Gibbs describes his 2012 pro-mod season as the worst he's ever had. A spate of engine problems and a couple of mishaps over just four races or so, all while trying to dial in a new automatic transmission setup for the Cuda Beast.
     But that was then, this is now. Paul and the rest of the team are ready to race at Montgomery next weekend, and pursue a busy race schedule in a new series based in Alabama. Paul says the Montgomery race, a Southern Outlaw Tour event, will be more like a test and tune session to see if the new gear ratio changes will keep the Mickey Thompsons planted on the asphalt.
     Paul isn't planning to run the SOT this year, opting for a series that will run back-to-back races -- Fridays at the legendary Lassiter Mountain track and Saturdays at Holiday Raceway in Woodstock. That series already has five weekends on the calendar -- April through August -- and Paul also plans to run events at Huntsville, a track where the Beast has turned some of its best times.
    The SOT has acquired some new sponsorship and has boosted purses, enough so that a lot of cars that hang out in ADRL will be tempted to take on the SOT. Paul said he guesses the bump at MMP could be well into the 3.80s for 16 cars, and he's really not expecting to be one of them -- but great, should it happen.  The tracks on the new central Alabama series are smaller, and cannot handle the speeds the high-buck ADRL racers are capable of.  A 3.9 is about the limit, and Paul is happy shooting for that. Still, the competition will be tough.
     It has been a long, tiring winter for Paul to get the car refurbished. He was laying some paint on the Beast today, and hopes to have it in the trailer and ready to roll by midweek. There's a practice period and one round of qualifying on Friday, and two more rounds of qualifying Saturday, with races set to begin at 7 p.m. As in past seasons, when this site was doublehdragstrip(dot)com, we'll have pre-and postrace coverage of the Cuda Beast team. For race day, your best source is the bulletin board at  www.promodifieds.us , with the fantastic Brian C. providing coverage that is the next best thing to being there.